Better Late Than Never
by Orlissa92
Summary: Madame Jie is a seasoned midwife - but a certain Water Tribe girl can still surprise her.


**A/N: Actually, I am not that sure about this one… It sounded good in my head, but maybe not so much on the screen… Maybe I should have worked on one of my other ideas (which will happen, anyway, now that this is done). But I still hope you'll like it :)  
Rating: T  
Word Count: 2330  
Disclaimer: [Insert funny text here that tells you I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender]**

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Madame Jie was the most respected midwife in the Capital – maybe in the whole Fire Nation. She had been in the profession for more than thirty years, delivered hundreds of babies, three royal children amongst them – well, soon to be four, as she had been supervising Fire Lady Katara's first pregnancy from the very start, and had been asked to help her through the delivery.

She hadn't earned her excellent reputation for nothing – she knew what she was doing, and she did it well. She could deal with both the pain the mothers in labor experienced and the annoyance they caused by their whining and screaming and threats. She was discreet, too – what is a very handy trait, considering how many bastard children of the nobles she had helped to the world. Children nobody knew anything about.

In the last nearly three decades she had also learned many things about pregnant women – things that one can't find in books. For example that, most of the times, the higher women stood on the social ladder, the less they could tolerate the pain – especially first-time mothers –, which caused them to frantically call for Madame Jie practically the minute they had their first contraction – what, in her opinion, was completely unnecessary. Experience told her that the women who did so didn't even need her – at all – until hours after they had made their call.

Maybe that's why when Lin, Fire Lady Katara's favorite handmaid, arrived at her door out of breath and in complete frenzy, saying that the lady was in labor, Madame Jie wasn't in hurry at all to get to the palace.

"Calm down a little, will you?" She chided the girl – how old could she have been? Seventeen, eighteen? – gently, as she ushered her inside. "You getting a heart attack won't help anything." She led Lin to her small parlor and, despite of the girl's reluctance, she made her sit down. "Would you please tell me again why were you sent here?"

She wasn't really interested, of course – she had a very good idea what would welcome her if she rushed to the palace immediately.

The girl could only babble and stutter. She told Madame Jie about frantic servants running around in the palace, about the Fire Sages already being informed, about the Fire Lord on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and about the Lady, who is, according to Lin, was moaning in pain in her suite, surrounded only by a handful of maids and her mother-in-law.

Madame Jie allowed herself a little half-smile. So the Lady was moaning in pain – well, she'd seen woman hardly into their labor screaming from the top of their lungs. Lin's little statement confirmed what she had already suspected – that she had plenty of time to get to the palace.

Of course, she tried to pry some more information out of the girl, but with very little success. She asked if the Lady's water had broken – Lin had no idea. Then she inquired how dilated she had been when Lin left the palace – she couldn't answer this question either. She even seemed to be repulsed by the idea of touching the Lady there. So, in short, Madame Jie got little to nothing information out of her, so she assumed that Fire Lady Katara, just like the majority of the noble ladies, had just gotten her first few contractions and was panicking.

She started to get ready according to this.

She called for her servant, and asked her to make some tea for their guest, and maybe to pour some sake into the cup as well – poor girl was so on edge, almost as if it was she who was giving birth. She really needed something to help her calm down.

Then, turning a deaf ear to Lin's protests, saying that they had no time for having tea, Jie ordered her stable boy to fetch her apprentice – she needed her help. She didn't really trust the palace servants in delicate matters such as this. Of course she was well aware of the fact that the boy would need at least half an hour to find the apprentice, and that the girl would need about another half an hour to get there – but then again, they had time.

The stable boy off to do what he'd been ordered, Lin sipping tea in the parlor, Madame Jie started to slowly, patiently gather everything she'd need in the palace – herbs for the pain and for the womb and against infections after the birth. An amulet or two for good luck. Scissors, to cut the cord with. A scalpel, just to be sure. Smoothing, sweet-smelling oils, to bathe the babe in.

She was in no hurry at all; she took her time, placing every item into her bag with extra care. While packing, she even considered that it could be a false labor and an unnecessary call – after all, the Lady still had nearly two weeks to go according to her calculations, and anyway, when she had examined the Fire Lady only days before and then she had been in perfect health, the baby exactly where he should have been – which meant that Madame Jie expected the birth to be smooth and free of complications (another reason not to rush anything) – and, most importantly, Fire Lady Katara hadn't shown any signs of going into labor anytime soon.

Madame Jie shrugged. Well, even if it was a false labor, it never hurt to let people see her go to the palace, answering the Fire Lord's call. Things like these tended to help people's reputation.

It took her apprentice – a giddy, sixteen-ear-old girl, who had been studying under her for a little more than a year now – over an hour to get to Madame Jie's house, not that it bothered the midwife much. After all, she knew pregnant women well and she was sure they would find the Lady in nearly the exact state Lin had left her about one and an half hour earlier.

They took Madame Jie's chaise back to the palace – Lin, in hurry to get to the midwife as soon as possible, had chosen to come on foot, thinking that it would be faster than to wait for the ostrich-horses to be prepared. The coachman asked if they were in hurry, and even though Lin adamantly stated that yes, they indeed were, Madame Jie only waved her off and ensured the coachman that there was no need cause a ruckus on the streets with their speeding.

"Babies aren't in that great hurry as you'd think!" She said laughing a little, trying to ease the young handmaid's nerves who was wrinkling her skirt between her fingers in nervousness. Madame Jie clicked with her tongue – she should have told her servant to give more sake to the girl.

It was nearly two hours after the first call had been made when they arrived at the palace – Madame Jie still perfectly calm, still perfectly collected, her bag with the equipment in one hand, her fan in the other, her apprentice and the still distraught Lin on her heels.

Her tranquility, though, evaporated rather quickly – exactly in the moment when the guard, who was stationed at the entrance of the royal family's living quarters, stopped her.

"What are you doing here?" The man asked gruffly, holding his spear in front of Madame Jie, blocking her way.

"You dare to stop me?" She said, taking in the young man, scanning him from head to toe; he was rather young, and somehow he seemed familiar – he might have been another of her babies, she thought. "I've been called here by the Fire Lord."

The guard didn't move an inch.

"I've been ordered to not to let in anybody, except who has already been given a permission. You, I suppose, haven't been given one."

Madame Jie scowled. Her apprentice behind her back giggled.

"You fool! Don't you recognize me? I am Madame Jie – the midwife. I've called here to deliver your next ruler!"

The guard's eyes went wide.

"You are the midwife?"

Madame Jie started to lose all her patience.

"Are you deaf? I just said-"

"But the prince was born about ten minutes ago!"

Now it was Madame Jie's turn to stand there wide-eyed and confused, and as she was just about the reprimand the guard for saying such things, for sharing far-fetched and most likely untrue information – he must have misheard something the servants said, Madame Jie told herself –, the great gong on the top of the Fire Sage's temple was gonged. Twice.

…Which meant the birth of a male heir.

When Madame Jie finally – finally – got to the Fire Lady's chamber nearly fifteen minutes later (because, of course, she had to get trough not only the guard who had stopped her, but his superior and the head of the household staff, too), she got to see with her very own eyes that the Fire Lady had indeed given birth since Lin was sent for her– without her aid, nonetheless – as she was lying in the enormous bed, weary and sweaty, but smiling, a little baby tightly bound in red blankets in her arms, the Fire Lord sitting next to her. She looked fine, albeit exhausted, but Madame Jie still wanted take a look at her, just to be sure – and because she hoped that if she at least did something, she wouldn't look like a completely incompetent midwife who hadn't even arrived in time for the birth (what she actually was).

After sending the Fire Lord out – which was quiet a feat, considering that he had no intentions of leaving his wife and child –, Madame Jie quickly got down to work.

She started with the baby, gently taking him from his mother's arms. He seemed perfectly healthy – quite a nice sized child, despite that he was a little early. When she started to unravel the blankets, he protested rather loudly. He was nicely proportioned, and had everything: ten fingers, ten toes and he was definitely a boy. In short, the little prince was everything a baby his age should be.

After giving the prince to her assistant, Madame Jie turned to the Fire Lady. She checked everything, just to be sure – the Lady had no tears, and only a slight bleeding, which Madame Jie knew would stop on its own in a short while. The placenta had already detached, and was in one piece, with nothing remaining in the womb. When Madame Jie asked her, the Lady didn't complain about any residual pain. The only problem she found was the Lady had yet no milk, but that only meant that she had to call for a wet nurse – it was nothing to worry about, but, just to be sure, Madame Jie gave her a little blend to prevent infections and to get her back on her feet sooner.

All in all, both mother and child were in textbook perfect condition – for which Madame Jie thanked Agni and every deity and spirit she knew –, despite the fact the that birth had occurred without any professional help.

Not long after the prince was taken away, so the Fire Sages could take a look at him, and Madame Jie was left alone in the vast room with Fire Lady Katara, helping the younger woman to clean up a little. And, of course, as it was in her nature (because she might have been discreet, but she still liked to speak about what she had on her mind), Madame Jie couldn't keep her mouth shout.

"It was quite a quick birth, wasn't it, my Lady?" She forced on a little chuckle. "Three hours, and the baby was already out! I have never seen a first birth so fast in my life, though I've seen much."

"Three hours?" Fire Lady Katara looked at her, her eyes wide with confusion, but then the moment passed and she smiled while shook her head a little. "Oh no, it wasn't that quick!" She giggled. Actually giggled. "I had been having contractions since early morning – maybe even since last night, I am not really sure if that discomfort was really contractions. I just know how things works – I helped my grandmother deliver babies before, and even did that on my own once or twice –, knew that everything was going the way it should, and didn't want to bother you until I know you weren't necessary. Zuko of course, poor him, was completely out of his mind! I swear, by noon he was a complete nervous wreck." Another little laugh. "But of course in the end everything turned out well, even without your help, but I still appreciate that you came. I am sure it wasn't your fault that you didn't get here in time." The cleaning up finished, she leant back on the pillows behind her back, her eyelids dropping. Madame Jie pulled the blanket over her, her hands shaking a little. "He is a really beautiful baby, isn't he?" The Lady asked in a soft voice, referring to her son. Madame Jie could only nod and make small, agreeing noises as the Fire Lady went on about how wonderful her child was, just like every new mother did, and then she slowly gave in to exhaustion and fell asleep. The midwife only left the room when the Lady was already deep in slumber, breathing evenly.

When the door closed behind her she let out a half relieved, half annoyed sigh.

So, it seemed, only Fire Nation ladies were so whiny about giving birth. So, it seemed, this was the way things went in the Water Tribes.

She swallowed and vowed to herself to pay a closer attention to the Fire Lady next time she fell pregnant (if the royal couple willing to hire her). And of course, she also promised herself to actually hurry up the next time she got a call.

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**A/N: Two things – there's a poll on my profile, please, could you vote? It stands mostly for the ones who read me regularly. And two, since I always do it, the meaning of Jie's name – cleanliness. Yep, that boring. But when I searched for names, this was the one I found most fitting (I didn't want to give her a name that meant 'beautiful' or 'graceful', because really, she is none of those things :D)**


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